Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror

German filmmaker F.W. Murnau’s silent 1922 chiller “Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror” ( **** OUT OF **** ) ranks as the earliest vampire epic. As many as twenty vampire movies, some of them short films, had been produced before the release of Murnau’s landmark epic. Unfortunately, none of these earlier vampire films survived the light of day. Ostensibly, “Golem” scenarist Henrik Galeen and Murnau appropriated Bram Stoker’s celebrated 1897 novel “Dracula” as their narrative basis, but they neglected to obtain copyright clearance from the Stoker estate. Inevitably, Stoker’s widow Florence sued Murnau. Not only did Stoker win the case in court, but Stoker’s attorneys demanded that the authorities confiscate and destroy every print and negative of Murnau’s “Nosferatu.” Happily, “Nosferatu” survived this court order, so contemporary audiences can savor this silent masterpiece. First, “Nosferatu” qualifies as the premiere “Dracula” adaptation. Second, this touchstone picture influenced virtually every vampire epic in its shadow. Murnau’s added light to mankind’s arsenal against these bloodthirsty fangsters. At the same time, the best special effect about “Nosferatu” wasn’t the experimental tricks that Murnau played, but his star Max Schreck. The ugly and emaciated Count Orlok is the most hideous looking vampire. Klaus Kinski made himself up to resemble Schreck for Werner Herzog’s amazing sound remake “Nosferatu the Vampyre” (1979). Count Orlok looked nothing like either Bela Lugosi or Christopher

Lee. Max Schreck sports needle type fangs in his grille and looks like a starved prisoner-of-war.

“Nosferatu” isn’t a slavish adaptation of “Dracula.” Apparently, Galeen & Murnau tried to skirt the copyright issue by altering the setting, changing several names, and marginalizing certain characters. Nevertheless, despite these revisions, the court ruled in favor of Florence Stoker. Basically, the plot remains intact. One major departure involves Professor Van Helsing. Usually, Van Helsing acts as Dracula’s arch enemy. Galeen and Murnau have reduced his role here to providing exposition about parasitic vampire organisms. Furthermore, the Murnau film takes place in Germany in 1838 whereas the Stoker novel occurred in the 1890s. Interestingly, unlike Dracula, Orlok does not create other vampires with his bite. He kills them as the plague serves as a metaphor of his evil. One precedent that “Nosferatu” established was that vampires were susceptible to sunlight. Meaning, they could be killed by the sun, something that wasn’t the case with Stoker’s literary protagonist who would stroll around during the day, though his powers were considerably attenuated.

Meanwhile, enough similarities existed to seal the fate of the filmmakers. In Bremen,

Germany, a strange real estate agent named Knock dispatches Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim), to travel to distant Transylvania in the Carpathian Mountains to transact a business deal with the Count. In Stoker’s novel, the Hutter character was named Jonathan. Anyway, Thomas is a rather adolescent, happy-go-luck character. He dismisses the warnings of the local folk as superstitious nonsense. He discovers a book, The Book of the Vampires, left in his room and casts it aside in contempt. Presumably, the local equivalent of the Gideons put this book in every wayfarer’s room as a sort of admonition. An eerie moment occurs when the coachmen takes Hutter to a bridge and leave him afoot because he refuses to cross over into the province of phantoms. Later, a sinister coach drawn by horses decked out in hoods arrives with a creepy looking driver. Hutter climbs aboard for a whirlwind ride to the foreboding castle where the nobleman awaits him. The Count (Max Schreck) wants to pull up stakes in “Nosferatu” and relocate in Bremen.

Indeed, the two eponymous vampires forsake their homeland and embark on a voyage to another city. Before the Count departs, he attacks Hutter and leaves him for dead. Meanwhile, the Count loads six coffins onto a wagon, clambers into the topmost coffin, levitates the lid onto it and sets the horses in motion for the harbor. This “Dracula” is very supernaturally endowed. Moreover, not only can Count Orlok control things nearby, but he can also control things at a great distance and has acquired power over Hutter’s employer Knock. Eventually, Knock goes insane and he is put in a straitjacket and placed in a psychiatric asylum. In the

Stoker novel, the character of Knock was named Renfield.

During the voyage, both Dracula and Orlok assume command of their vessels. In “Nosferatu,” the outbreak of the plague is associated with the rats that infest Orlok’s coffins. Everybody dies on the respective ships. The Count arrives aboard the ship at Wisborg with no survivors, but the ship teems with plague rats that wreaks havoc. German officials inspect the ship, scrutinize the captain’s log, and dread the worst: plague. Before long, panic grips the public and people start to die. The scenes where town officials mark front doors appears Old Testament Biblical. Meanwhile, after Hutter escapes from Orlok’s castle, nearby peasants nurse him back to health. By now, Orlok has killed everybody on the ship. Orlok is smitten by Hutter’s girl, and he takes a dilapidated warehouse across the street from Hutter’s home. During this mayhem, Ellen has developed a psychic connection with Nosferatu. She exerts her power, but she will die as she lures the vampire Nosferatu to loiter in her room until the dawning rays of sunlight penetrate his body and vaporizes him.

Although many critics pigeonhole Murnau as a German Expressionist, he was not entirely a product of expressionism. For instance, Expressionists prefer to shoot inside the orderly confines of a studio, whereas Murnau took his cameras out on location to shoot some scenic footage. Watch closely and you will see that Schreck rarely blinks. “Nosferatu” emerges as one of the greatest horror films, and Schreck’s performance as the “Dracula” vampire is without parallel. Ultimately, “Nosferatu” is the mother of all vampire movies!